Chapter 25
The snow falling subsided the next day and the weather forecast was favourable. Thus they started their ride to Minneapolis.
The journey was in complete silence. Sexual tension was so thick between them, that it could be cut to two slices.
Stephen stopped the car before a small eatery to grab the breakfast which also had a pharmacy. He brought them two chicken sandwiches and fried eggs with a glass each of orange juice along with two tablets for Merlyn. “What is this?” She asked him a bit surprised.
“Remember, the night?” – ‘oh yeah, was it the night that could ever be forgotten in her life? He was an Eros in bed and the most passionate man in the world. He treated her like a queen and his love for her was unparalleled though he wouldn’t say a word to admit it.’
“These tablets will prevent you from falling pregnant. Have one after breakfast and then after dinner. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.” He called with his eyes down as if not able to look at her. Remorse in his words did not sound good to Merlyn. They were equal participants in bed. And if what they did was wrong, both of them were to be blamed.
“I don’t consider it a mistake. And if it was, it was not only your fault but mine too.” Merlyn grabbed the tablet and gulped it with water.
They completed the breakfast and soon Stephen was busy in a call briefing his right hand man about the conduction of the meeting and his possible arrival time.
Merlyn tried to busy herself in scanning her phone though nothing entertained her. The day did not feel good at all though the weather was pleasant. There was an unknown anxiety in her heart. The thought of not going to see him again made her nerves revolt with depression.
Stephen felt the same. She was his Flower, he was never going to have. Merlyn was the girl who invaded his every dream but the girl whose life went topsy-turvy because of his egotistical and cash rich attitude. He and his deceased junky brother were the killers of her happiness and her parents.
“There is the girl.” A group of gangsters called dashing aggressively towards her.
“Who are they?” Stephen was beside her in a blink of an eye.
Merlyn was clueless. “I have no idea why they are searching for me.” She pleaded innocence.
“What is your relationship with Kelly? How dare you help her elope with her boyfriend?” One among the four guys who appeared like the leader asked and was about to hit her.
But before his hand reached her, a strong arm with nerves popping out held him. “Nobody dares to lay a hand on my Flower. And this was the promise I made to my dad when she was just a few days old.”
“How dare you? Didn’t Kelly put on the clothes of this girl? I’m her brother.” The leader of the four grilled his teeth towards Stephen and about to blow on his face.
“I told you, nobody dares to touch her.” Stephen held his arm and grunted low, enough perilous for the man to shake in fright before he made a hit on him.
“We have no connection with your sister. In fact she was the one who robbed my girlfriend’s clothes when she went to one of the washrooms to change her attire.” Stephen admonished with fire emitting from his eyes.
While the leader was talking to Stephen, the other three tried to attack Merlyn. The action got Stephen out of his senses. He pummeled his fist on the first guy while he held the neck of the other so tight turning his face pale. He then struck a leg on the third, injuring all of them at once.
“What are you doing? Leave them. I do not want you to end up in prison for killing them.” Merlyn cried when Stephen continued to knock each one of them like he was occupied by a spirit.
Seeing the menace he could mean the leader understood the power of the man they had just tried to rub their nose in ignorance. He understood Merlyn’s innocence and she had nothing to do with his eloped sister. He took his boys and went away from the place without a further word.
All the time when Stephen was fighting for her, the only thing that kept nagging in her mind was Flower – the name with which he addressed her. Why does the new epithet given to her appear so familiar? The name rolled out of his lips so naturally like he had been calling her with it for years. It struck a chord in her throat.
“And this was the promise I made to my dad when she was just a few days old.” Those words….. Does the man have a connection with her in the past? Does his family know hers or he was simply saying that to protect her? However, his statement did not feel like a lie. In fact it felt so solemn like they were the words of a pledge coming from his heart.
Two hours later they were in the city of Minneapolis very near to Burnsville. The car ride was extremely silent with a tick of his jaw every now and then except for the voice of the stereo.
Though he was not saying anything to her Merlyn felt suffocated with the tension filling up in the car. She wanted to rush out of it. Why was he so angry? The words he told the guy, did they mean the truth? And the way he called her – Flower. Was he someone she knew from her past? Well, she did not suffer any memory loss, an accident or a mishap. If she knew him, she could have remembered him. Everything about his words was making chaos in her head.
“Thank you for all the help that you did to me during this journey to reach my place. You might be getting late for the charity ball. You can drop me before one of the hotels that passes by, I will call my uncle and he will pick me up.” Merlyn offered, ready to skip out of the car as soon as possible.Content rights by NôvelDr//ama.Org.
His hands were in the position of ten and two of the clock holding the steering which suddenly turned tight making his knuckles go white and his vision was ahead looking through the windshield, rock hard. “I took your responsibility at the car kiosk to drive you safely home and I will complete that by any means.” He said in a way that paved way to no arguments.
Few minutes later, finally easing the nerves of Merlyn, the car stopped before the flowering lawn of her house. Her aunt was cooking and uncle walked out to welcome them inside. Stephen shook hands with Peter but politely denied his request to be the guest and before the thought struck her to stop him the car drove away.
What a weird journey it was! At first when she did not know anything about him, she could speak non-stop but in the end when she thought he was the guy for her she did not even have the words to stop him from driving away from her. She knew nothing about him, not even the name except for the information that he was a businessman.
Everything that happened felt like a dream and now she was over with it. Will she ever meet the guy again?
“Merlyn, why are you standing there? Get inside. It is very cold there.” Her uncle called.